Aang’s Choice
by Makintosh05
Summary: Aang finds Katara frozen in a globe of ice, right when he is in need of a water bender. It's the last element is needs to master, in order to defeat the fire king, but after meeting Katara, he is starting to doubt whether he is willing to risk his life for the war, when he now has someone to live for.
1. One

Chapter One

Aang wanders the ice glaciers, kicking the frozen chucks with his toes. The Water Tribes elder's words circle through his mind as he continues to analyse them.

"We haven't had a water bender since our great goddess Katara. It was she who caused this much ice to form, over a hundred years ago, when she battled in the last war. To win the seemingly unwinable war, her sacrifice had been her life."

"How am I supposed to master water bending, if there aren't any benders? None in the North Pole, no benders in the swamps or towns, and now the strongest bender of the South Pole was sacrificed." Aang kicks a piece of ice harder this time, propelling it towards a tunnel off in the distance. His eyes narrow on the dark opening as he approaches.

It stretches on so far, it is completely pitch black inside, with salty walls and dripping ceilings. The room, despite being made of and on top of ice, feels damp, not frozen. Grabbing his special stones from his pocket, he sparks a flame and catches it at the tip of his finger, before moving further inside the deep cave. The ceiling is laced with long pointed spikes, jingling softly in the breeze.

The deeper he proceeds into the cave, the more this strange feeling clouds his chest. But when he suddenly sees a strange glowing white light in the distance, he runs towards it. But he doesn't reach the other side of the cave like he had anticipated, but instead he finds a large globe, covered in frozen crystals and snow dust.

The closer he grows to it, the brighter it glows. When he is close enough to touch it, he brushes away the loose snow, peering into the globe.

And that's when he sees the girl trapped inside.

Panicking, he uses his earth bending to snap the globe, his eyes wide and his hands moving to cover his ears when the loud hissing of air fills the cave.

He is tumbled over by the sudden gust of heavy air, rolling a few times before he managed to grab hold of a frozen chunk of ice at the caves wall. The hissing continues for a few seconds more, his eyes squinting to see the globe explode in light.

When his eyes finally adjust and the hissing stops, the girl - now standing in the open, her eyes closed and her hair wet and slick to her head - starts to sway on her feet. Swinging his arms, he clears the distance between then, catching her in his arms before she hits the ground.

She breaths deeply against his cheek, fast asleep. As Aang looks her over to check for any injuries, he notices that she looks young, probably not much older than himself.

"I guess I should take you back to the village, and let you rest. Then we can figure out what that all was," Aang whispers, brushing her wet hair behind her ear. He moves her onto his back, and he starts to make the journey back to the village.


	2. Two

Chapter Two

The girls lips part as she takes slow, steady breaths, her eyes fluttering but never opening. Aang sits at her bedside, watching her from over the back of the chair, the heels of his hands digging into his cheeks.

"Why won't you wake up already?"

He has been at her side for the past three days, only leaving to eat and stretch his legs. When he had brought her into the village, everyone had been confused, wondering how they have not happened upon the cave Aang had found her in.

Aang starts to tap his finger against the palm of her hand, happy to feel her warm skin. His eyes catch movement at the end of the bed, her toes curling the blanket. When he looks up to her face, he sees her staring back at him with fearful eyes.

"You're awake—!" Before Aang can grab her, the girl is out of the bed and Aang is launched out of the tent through the opening. He slides through the night thick snow, rolling and flipping until he smacks into a ice glacier. He rubs the back of his head, glancing up just as she escapes from the tent that the water tribe assigned to Aang during his stay.

"Hey, wait!" Aang brushes off the snow dust from his body and races after her. She pushes through the few people left of the water tribe as she escaped into the village centre.

When she stumbles into the centre, Aang swings his arms and propels himself forward through the air using his bending. He catches the girls shoulders, bringing her down to the ground harsher than he intended.

Aang rolls her over to face him, surprised when he feels the snow around him liquify and surround him. Gazing down at her, his eyes absorb every emotion that passes over her pretty face. Her eyes are wild and frightened, and her hands are held up in front of her, small droplets of water circling her fingertips like a ring. His eyes take in what he is seeing, but his mind almost can't believe it.

"You're a water bender!" He grabs her hand, holding it close to his face to get a good look as the water starts to weave in and out of her fingers.

"It's ok, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," Aang whispers, stroking her hair like does to Apa whenever he gets frightened. She leans into his hand slightly, making Aang's chest bubble with a strange but nice feeling.

"What happened? Where am I?" Hearing her voice for the first time, Aang's face breaks out into a wide smile.

"We're at the South Pole Water Tribe. What do you remember?"

Her eyebrows furrow as she strains to remember. "I was fighting against the Fire Lord Sozin, and suddenly I felt so cold and... I don't remember anything else."

Aang's eyes widen, and his heart beats erratically. Fire Lord Sozin...

"How is this the South Pole Water Tribe? It's less than half the size... Where am I really?"

Aang grabs her shoulders, moving closer as he levels her with a worried stare, "Tell me your name."

She gives him a weird look, before whispering, "My name is Katara."


End file.
